How Do I Resign Gracefully from My Job?

recruitmint • November 26, 2019

There are many reasons that you may want to leave a job. For instance, you may have found a better position, want a new challenge, would like to work closer to home or simply want new hours. Life changes, which means that your job and work choices tend to change too. When you do decide to leave your current job, make sure you do so on good terms. It’s crucial to handle your resignation with dignity and grace.

In this blog, we’ll help you handle your resignation correctly so you can leave your job on a positive note. We’ll teach you how to prepare for your resignation, craft the perfect resignation letter and inform your manager of your upcoming departure. Read our How-To guide below to learn our resignation tips and tricks!

Preparing for Your Resignation

Before you do anything else, you must first make sure you absolutely want to resign. If the answer is yes, then consider when the best time for you to resign is. Make sure to check the notice period outlined in your contract, so you fully understand any obligations mandated by your employer. We also suggest taking a moment to remind yourself that moving on from a company is natural. This should be an exciting period in your life, as you’re moving onto a new challenge that’ll help you grow both personally and professionally.

How to Write the Perfect Resignation Letter

Putting your resignation into words can be tricky and sometimes daunting, but we’re here to help! Begin your resignation letter by stating your name and address in the top left corner of your letter. Then, state the date and the name of the person you’re addressing your letter to, including their title. Add in your company’s name and address below and formally address your letter.

The body of your letter must state that you’re leaving your position and the company. Be sure to outline your reasons for leaving, but don’t be overly critical. You want to be as professional as possible when writing your resignation letter, so you leave on good terms. Make sure you confirm your contract’s notice period in your letter and tell your manager when your last day in the office will be. We also recommend thanking your manager for the opportunity and asking if there is anything you can do to make the transition period easier for him or her while looking to replace you. Your manager will then sign and date your resignation letter.

Telling Your Manager You’re Resigning

The first thing you should do once you’ve written your resignation letter is to ask for a quick meeting with your manager. Use this time to give your manager your resignation letter and tell him or her verbally why you are resigning. It’s also best to request a follow-up meeting to discuss any implications that your resignation may cause. In this meeting, you and your manager can discuss how best to go about offloading tasks and responsibilities to other team members in your absence. We suggest that you give your manager as much notice as possible so that he or she can look to replace you quickly. You should stress to your manager that you will do all you can to make the transitional period easier for everyone too, in your final days.

Please be aware that your manager may ask you to leave before the end of your notice period. If this happens, you’ll receive full pay. On the other hand, your manager may make you a counteroffer to entice you to stay, such as offering you a promotion or better pay. Should this be the case, ask yourself why you wanted to leave in the first place. Would a promotion or better pay fix your situation? Only you know the answer to that question, so think about it carefully before making your decision.

If you’re looking for a new challenge, register your profile with Recruit Mint to gain access to our knowledgeable specialist recruitment consultants. Operating in the commercial, industrial and technical sectors, you are sure to find the perfect career to match your passion and skills when you partner with us. View our open temporary, contract and permanent job opportunities and apply for a job today!

The Neurodiversity Advantage: Tapping into Overlooked Talent Pools

August 18, 2025
Here's an uncomfortable truth for the recruitment industry: we're systematically excluding some of the most talented individuals from our candidate pools. While neurodiversity-related job postings have nearly quadrupled from 1% to 3.8% in recent years, the stark reality remains that just 31% of people with autism are in employment compared to 54.7% of disabled people overall. In a UK market where employers are struggling with talent shortages and the fight for skilled professionals has never been fiercer, this represents a monumental waste of human potential. The recruitment industry has a problem, and it's one of our own making. Traditional recruitment processes are designed by neurotypical minds for neurotypical candidates, creating barriers that systematically filter out neurodivergent talent. But here's the kicker: teams with neurodivergent professionals are 30% more productive than those without and boast a 90% employee retention rate. If you're not implementing neurodiversity recruitment strategies, you're not just missing out—you're actively disadvantaging your clients and your business in an increasingly competitive market.

Digital Portfolio: Showcasing Your Work in a Crowded Online Market

By Karl Montgomery • August 18, 2025
Here's a hard truth that might sting: your CV isn't enough anymore. In today's hypercompetitive UK job market, where unemployment has reached 4.6% and over 100,000 jobs were lost between April and May 2025, standing out isn't just advantageous—it's essential for survival. With 52% of working-age adults unable to complete all 20 basic digital tasks that industry and government agree are essential for work, the candidates who can demonstrate their digital competency through a professional portfolio will have a significant advantage. But here's the controversial bit: most professionals are creating portfolios completely wrong. They're either treating them as glorified CV extensions or cramming them with irrelevant work that dilutes their impact. If you're serious about career advancement, it's time to master professional digital portfolio creation properly.

Recruitment Marketing Metrics That Matter - Measuring Campaign Effectiveness Beyond Applications

By Karl Montgomery • July 22, 2025
Here's a statement that will make every recruitment leader squirm: Your recruitment marketing is burning money, and you don't even know it. While you're celebrating that uptick in applications, your actual quality hires are plummeting. While you're patting yourself on the back for lower cost-per-application, your cost-per-quality-hire is spiralling out of control. And while you're obsessing over job board metrics, your competitors are leveraging recruitment marketing analytics to dominate the talent market. The harsh reality? 57% of marketers use leads to measure the success of their marketing initiatives. In recruitment terms, that's like judging a restaurant by how many people walk past the door instead of how many actually buy a meal and come back for more.

The Remote Work CV Gap - How to Address Employment Fluctuations During the Pandemic Era

By Karl Montgomery • July 22, 2025
Here's a controversial statement that'll ruffle some feathers: Your pandemic career gap is not the liability you think it is—it's actually your secret weapon. While you've been losing sleep over that employment gap between March 2020 and whenever you landed back on your feet, the recruitment landscape has fundamentally shifted. That gap you're trying to hide? It's become so commonplace that more than half (53%) of all candidates screened in the last 12 months have career gaps on their CVs, according to employment screening provider Accurate Background. The pandemic didn't just change how we work—it rewrote the rules of what employers expect from a CV. If you're still approaching your pandemic career gap resume with pre-2020 thinking, you're not just behind the curve; you're potentially sabotaging your chances with outdated anxiety.

Beyond the ATS: How Semantic Search and AI Are Changing Candidate Discovery

By Karl Montgomery • July 14, 2025
Here's an uncomfortable truth that most recruitment leaders won't admit: your current ATS is actively sabotaging your ability to find the best candidates . While you've been religiously adding keywords to job descriptions and hoping for algorithmic magic, the most talented professionals have been slipping through your digital fingers – not because they lack the skills, but because they don't speak your system's rigid language. The recruitment technology revolution isn't coming. It's here. And it's fundamentally rewriting the rules of candidate discovery in ways that make traditional keyword-based systems look as outdated as fax machines in a WhatsApp world. Welcome to the age of AI candidate search technology, where understanding context matters more than matching words, and where the smartest recruitment teams are already gaining an almost unfair advantage over those still stuck in Boolean search hell.

Salary Negotiation in the Age of Pay Transparency: How to Advocate for Your Worth Without Burning Bridges

By Karl Montgomery • July 14, 2025
Here's an uncomfortable truth: most of us are rubbish at negotiating our own worth . While 55% of job candidates don't even attempt to negotiate their salary, the very employers who'd benefit from their skills are sitting there wondering why talented people keep walking away from "generous" offers. But here's where it gets interesting – we're living through the biggest shift in workplace transparency since the gender pay gap reporting requirements landed in 2017. Pay transparency isn't just knocking at the UK's door; it's already reshaping how smart candidates approach salary conversations. The question isn't whether you should negotiate – it's whether you're equipped with the salary negotiation strategies that actually work in 2025.

The Food Manufacturing Skills Crisis: Bridging the Gap Between Industry 4.0 and Traditional Production Teams

By Karl Montgomery • May 14, 2025
The UK's food manufacturing sector stands at a critical crossroads. With advanced automation technologies revolutionising production processes, a significant disconnect has emerged between the sophisticated capabilities of Industry 4.0 systems and the skills of the existing workforce. This gap isn't just a minor operational challenge—it represents an existential threat to the sector's competitiveness, productivity, and long-term sustainability.

Last-Mile Innovation: How Logistics Leaders Are Redesigning Teams for the E-Commerce Era

By Karl Montgomery • May 14, 2025
The explosion of e-commerce has fundamentally transformed the logistics landscape, pushing traditional warehouse and distribution models beyond their limits. In the UK, where online penetration rates have increased from 9.3% to 26.6% between 2012 and 2022, logistics providers face mounting pressure to deliver faster, more flexible solutions while maintaining efficiency and controlling costs. This revolution isn't just changing what logistics teams do – it's transforming how they're structured, the skills they need, and the roles they're creating to meet the demands of the digital commerce age.

The Hidden Costs of Slow Hiring: Why Recruitment Efficiency Is Your Competitive Advantage

By Karl Montgomery • May 14, 2025
In today's fast-paced business environment, the ability to secure top talent quickly has become a critical competitive differentiator. Yet many organisations continue to struggle with prolonged hiring processes that not only frustrate candidates but also impact the bottom line in ways that often go unmeasured. While quality hiring decisions should never be rushed, there's a substantial difference between thorough assessment and unnecessary delays.

The Technical Interview Blueprint: How to Showcase Problem-Solving Skills Beyond Your CV

By Shazamme System User • May 12, 2025
In the competitive landscape of technical recruitment, your CV might secure you an interview, but it's your problem-solving prowess that will land you the job. Technical interviews have evolved far beyond simple knowledge checks, becoming sophisticated evaluations of how you approach challenges, communicate solutions, and adapt under pressure.
Show More